A Great Prophet Has Appeared Among Us
February 20, 2022 · Harmony of the Gospels
Scripture referenced 12 passages
The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
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2 Corinthians 3:17 opened the service: where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
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Keep this verse
Romans 8
nothing can separate us from God's love, neither death nor life, angels or demons, fears or worries
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
3 For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;
4 that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;
7 because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.
8 Those who are in the flesh can’t please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.
10 If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
11 But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
13 For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.
15 For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;
17 and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us.
19 For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
20 For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
21 that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now.
23 Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.
24 For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees?
25 But if we hope for that which we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.
26 In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered.
27 He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.
28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
29 For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
30 Whom he predestined, those he also called. Whom he called, those he also justified. Whom he justified, those he also glorified.
31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
32 He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?
33 Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies.
34 Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
37 No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
38 For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from God’s love, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Revelation 1
all glory and power to him forever, He comes with the clouds and everyone will see him
1 This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John,
2 who testified to God’s word, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, about everything that he saw.
3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for the time is at hand.
4 John, to the seven assemblies that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from God, who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne;
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood;
6 and he made us to be a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
9 I John, your brother and partner with you in the oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of God’s Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet
11 saying, “What you see, write in a book and send to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
12 I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lamp stands.
13 And among the lamp stands was one like a son of man, clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest.
14 His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire.
15 His feet were like burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters.
16 He had seven stars in his right hand. Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last,
18 and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.
19 Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter;
20 the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamp stands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies. The seven lamp stands are seven assemblies.
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Psalm 8
when I look at the night sky, what are mere mortals that you should think about them
1 Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth, who has set your glory above the heavens!
2 From the lips of babes and infants you have established strength, because of your adversaries, that you might silence the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained;
4 what is man, that you think of him? What is the son of man, that you care for him?
5 For you have made him a little lower than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You make him ruler over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet:
7 All sheep and cattle, yes, and the animals of the field,
8 The birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
9 Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
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1 Kings 17
Elijah sent to the widow of Zarephath, her flour and oil miraculously sustained, her son raised from the dead
1 Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”
2 Then Yahweh’s word came to him, saying,
3 “Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan.
4 You shall drink from the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
5 So he went and did according to Yahweh’s word; for he went and lived by the brook Cherith that is before the Jordan.
6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.
7 After a while, the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
8 Yahweh’s word came to him, saying,
9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.”
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her, and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.”
11 As she was going to get it, he called to her, and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12 She said, “As Yahweh your God lives, I don’t have a cake, but a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jar. Behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me a little cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for you and for your son.
14 For Yahweh, the God of Israel says, ‘The jar of meal will not run out, and the jar of oil will not fail, until the day that Yahweh sends rain on the earth.’”
15 She went and did according to the saying of Elijah; and she, and he, and her house, ate many days.
16 The jar of meal didn’t run out, and the jar of oil did not fail, according to Yahweh’s word, which he spoke by Elijah.
17 After these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.
18 She said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!”
19 He said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the room where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed.
20 He cried to Yahweh, and said, “Yahweh my God, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?”
21 He stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to Yahweh, and said, “Yahweh my God, please let this child’s soul come into him again.”
22 Yahweh listened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
23 Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the room into the house, and delivered him to his mother; and Elijah said, “Behold, your son lives.”
24 The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that Yahweh’s word in your mouth is truth.”
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2 Kings 4
Elisha and the Shunammite woman, her son given to her and later raised from the dead
1 Now a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, saying, “Your servant my husband is dead. You know that your servant feared Yahweh. Now the creditor has come to take for himself my two children to be slaves.”
2 Elisha said to her, “What should I do for you? Tell me: what do you have in the house?” She said, “Your servant has nothing in the house, except a pot of oil.”
3 Then he said, “Go, borrow empty containers from of all your neighbors. Don’t borrow just a few containers.
4 Go in and shut the door on you and on your sons, and pour oil into all those containers; and set aside those which are full.”
5 So she went from him, and shut the door on herself and on her sons. They brought the containers to her, and she poured oil.
6 When the containers were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.” He said to her, “There isn’t another container.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
7 Then she came and told the man of God. He said, “Go, sell the oil, and pay your debt; and you and your sons live on the rest.”
8 One day Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a prominent woman; and she persuaded him to eat bread. So it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread.
9 She said to her husband, “See now, I perceive that this is a holy man of God who passes by us continually.
10 Please let us make a little room on the roof. Let us set for him there a bed, a table, a chair, and a lamp stand. When he comes to us, he can stay there.”
11 One day he came there, and he went to the room and lay there.
12 He said to Gehazi his servant, “Call this Shunammite.” When he had called her, she stood before him.
13 He said to him, “Say now to her, ‘Behold, you have cared for us with all this care. What is to be done for you? Would you like to be spoken for to the king, or to the captain of the army?’” She answered, “I dwell among my own people.”
14 He said, “What then is to be done for her?” Gehazi answered, “Most certainly she has no son, and her husband is old.”
15 He said, “Call her.” When he had called her, she stood in the door.
16 He said, “At this season, when the time comes around, you will embrace a son.” She said, “No, my lord, you man of God, do not lie to your servant.”
17 The woman conceived, and bore a son at that season, when the time came around, as Elisha had said to her.
18 When the child was grown, one day he went out to his father to the reapers.
19 He said to his father, “My head! My head!” He said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.”
20 When he had taken him, and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees until noon, and then died.
21 She went up and laid him on the man of God’s bed, and shut the door on him, and went out.
22 She called to her husband, and said, “Please send me one of the servants, and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God, and come again.”
23 He said, “Why would you want go to him today? It is not a new moon or a Sabbath.” She said, “It’s alright.”
24 Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, “Drive, and go forward! Don’t slow down for me, unless I ask you to.”
25 So she went, and came to the man of God to Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her afar off, he said to Gehazi his servant, “Behold, there is the Shunammite.
26 Please run now to meet her, and ask her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with your child?’” She answered, “It is well.”
27 When she came to the man of God to the hill, she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi came near to thrust her away; but the man of God said, “Leave her alone; for her soul is troubled within her; and Yahweh has hidden it from me, and has not told me.”
28 Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my lord? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not deceive me’?”
29 Then he said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take my staff in your hand, and go your way. If you meet any man, don’t greet him; and if anyone greets you, don’t answer him again. Then lay my staff on the child’s face.”
30 The child’s mother said, “As Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.” So he arose, and followed her.
31 Gehazi went ahead of them, and laid the staff on the child’s face; but there was no voice and no hearing. Therefore he returned to meet him, and told him, “The child has not awakened.”
32 When Elisha had come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and lying on his bed.
33 He went in therefore, and shut the door on them both, and prayed to Yahweh.
34 He went up, and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. He stretched himself on him; and the child’s flesh grew warm.
35 Then he returned, and walked in the house once back and forth; and went up, and stretched himself out on him. Then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.
36 He called Gehazi, and said, “Call this Shunammite!” So he called her. When she had come in to him, he said, “Take up your son.”
37 Then she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; then she picked up her son, and went out.
38 Elisha came again to Gilgal. There was a famine in the land; and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his servant, “Get the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”
39 One went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered a lap full of wild gourds from it, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew; for they didn’t recognize them.
40 So they poured out for the men to eat. As they were eating some of the stew, they cried out, and said, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.
41 But he said, “Then bring meal.” He threw it into the pot; and he said, “Serve it to the people, that they may eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.
42 A man from Baal Shalishah came, and brought the man of God some bread of the first fruits: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in…
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Matthew 8:1-5
Jesus heals a leper coming down from the mountain after the Sermon on the Mount
1 When he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.
2 Behold, a leper came to him and worshiped him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.”
3 Jesus stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be made clean.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
4 Jesus said to him, “See that you tell nobody, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
5 When he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him,
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Matthew 8:5-13
centurion comes to Jesus in Capernaum asking healing for his paralyzed servant
5 When he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him,
6 and saying, “Lord, my servant lies in the house paralyzed, grievously tormented.”
7 Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
8 The centurion answered, “Lord, I’m not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
9 For I am also a man under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and tell another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and tell my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to those who followed, “Most certainly I tell you, I haven’t found so great a faith, not even in Israel.
11 I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven,
12 but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13 Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way. Let it be done for you as you have believed.” His servant was healed in that hour.
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Luke 7
Luke's account of the centurion's servant, Jewish elders sent to Jesus on his behalf
1 After he had finished speaking in the hearing of the people, he entered into Capernaum.
2 A certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and at the point of death.
3 When he heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and save his servant.
4 When they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy for you to do this for him,
5 for he loves our nation, and he built our synagogue for us.”
6 Jesus went with them. When he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I am not worthy for you to come under my roof.
7 Therefore I didn’t even think myself worthy to come to you; but say the word, and my servant will be healed.
8 For I also am a man placed under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
9 When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude who followed him, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith, no, not in Israel.”
10 Those who were sent, returning to the house, found that the servant who had been sick was well.
11 Soon afterwards, he went to a city called Nain. Many of his disciples, along with a great multitude, went with him.
12 Now when he came near to the gate of the city, behold, one who was dead was carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Many people of the city were with her.
13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said to her, “Don’t cry.”
14 He came near and touched the coffin, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!”
15 He who was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother.
16 Fear took hold of all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited his people!”
17 This report went out concerning him in the whole of Judea, and in all the surrounding region.
18 The disciples of John told him about all these things.
19 John, calling to himself two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for another?”
20 When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptizer has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?’”
21 In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits; and to many who were blind he gave sight.
22 Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you have seen and heard: that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.
23 Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.”
24 When John’s messengers had departed, he began to tell the multitudes about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?
25 But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are gorgeously dressed, and live delicately, are in kings’ courts.
26 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet.
27 This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’
28 “For I tell you, among those who are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptizer, yet he who is least in God’s Kingdom is greater than he.”
29 When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they declared God to be just, having been baptized with John’s baptism.
30 But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God, not being baptized by him themselves.
31 “To what then will I liken the people of this generation? What are they like?
32 They are like children who sit in the marketplace, and call to one another, saying, ‘We piped to you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned, and you didn’t weep.’
33 For John the Baptizer came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’
34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man, and a drunkard; a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
35 Wisdom is justified by all her children.”
36 One of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered into the Pharisee’s house, and sat at the table.
37 Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment.
38 Standing behind at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what kind of woman this is who touches him, that she is a sinner.”
40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” He said, “Teacher, say on.”
41 “A certain lender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
42 When they couldn’t pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most?”
43 Simon answered, “He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most.” He said to him, “You have judged correctly.”
44 Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head.
45 You gave me no kiss, but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet.
46 You didn’t anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.
47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”
48 He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 Those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50 He said to the woman,…
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Luke 7
Jesus raises the widow of Nain's only son and gives him back to his mother
1 After he had finished speaking in the hearing of the people, he entered into Capernaum.
2 A certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and at the point of death.
3 When he heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and save his servant.
4 When they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy for you to do this for him,
5 for he loves our nation, and he built our synagogue for us.”
6 Jesus went with them. When he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I am not worthy for you to come under my roof.
7 Therefore I didn’t even think myself worthy to come to you; but say the word, and my servant will be healed.
8 For I also am a man placed under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
9 When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude who followed him, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith, no, not in Israel.”
10 Those who were sent, returning to the house, found that the servant who had been sick was well.
11 Soon afterwards, he went to a city called Nain. Many of his disciples, along with a great multitude, went with him.
12 Now when he came near to the gate of the city, behold, one who was dead was carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Many people of the city were with her.
13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said to her, “Don’t cry.”
14 He came near and touched the coffin, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!”
15 He who was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother.
16 Fear took hold of all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited his people!”
17 This report went out concerning him in the whole of Judea, and in all the surrounding region.
18 The disciples of John told him about all these things.
19 John, calling to himself two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for another?”
20 When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptizer has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?’”
21 In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits; and to many who were blind he gave sight.
22 Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you have seen and heard: that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.
23 Blessed is he who finds no occasion for stumbling in me.”
24 When John’s messengers had departed, he began to tell the multitudes about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?
25 But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are gorgeously dressed, and live delicately, are in kings’ courts.
26 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet.
27 This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’
28 “For I tell you, among those who are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptizer, yet he who is least in God’s Kingdom is greater than he.”
29 When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they declared God to be just, having been baptized with John’s baptism.
30 But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God, not being baptized by him themselves.
31 “To what then will I liken the people of this generation? What are they like?
32 They are like children who sit in the marketplace, and call to one another, saying, ‘We piped to you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned, and you didn’t weep.’
33 For John the Baptizer came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’
34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man, and a drunkard; a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
35 Wisdom is justified by all her children.”
36 One of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered into the Pharisee’s house, and sat at the table.
37 Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment.
38 Standing behind at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what kind of woman this is who touches him, that she is a sinner.”
40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” He said, “Teacher, say on.”
41 “A certain lender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
42 When they couldn’t pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most?”
43 Simon answered, “He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most.” He said to him, “You have judged correctly.”
44 Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head.
45 You gave me no kiss, but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet.
46 You didn’t anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.
47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”
48 He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 Those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50 He said to the woman,…
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Deuteronomy 18
Moses foretells the Lord will raise up a prophet like me from among you, listen to him
1 The priests the Levites, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the offerings of Yahweh made by fire and his portion.
2 They shall have no inheritance among their brothers. Yahweh is their inheritance, as he has spoken to them.
3 This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep, that they shall give to the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the inner parts.
4 The first fruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you shall give him.
5 For Yahweh your God has chosen him out of all your tribes, to stand to minister in Yahweh’s name, him and his sons for ever.
6 If a Levite comes from any of your gates out of all Israel, where he lives as a foreigner, and comes with all the desire of his soul to the place which Yahweh shall choose;
7 then he shall minister in the name of Yahweh his God, as all his brothers the Levites do, who stand there before Yahweh.
8 They shall have like portions to eat, in addition to that which comes from the sale of his family possessions.
9 When you have come into the land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the abominations of those nations.
10 There shall not be found with you anyone who makes his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices sorcery, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer,
11 or a charmer, or a consulter with a familiar spirit, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
12 For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh. Because of these abominations, Yahweh your God drives them out from before you.
13 You shall be perfect with Yahweh your God.
14 For these nations that you shall dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery and to diviners; but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you so to do.
15 Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him.
16 This is according to all that you desired of Yahweh your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again Yahweh my God’s voice, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die.”
17 Yahweh said to me, “They have well said that which they have spoken.
18 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you. I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him.
19 It shall happen, that whoever will not listen to my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.
20 But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.”
21 You may say in your heart, “How shall we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?”
22 When a prophet speaks in Yahweh’s name, if the thing doesn’t follow, nor happen, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him.
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Romans 15:13
benediction: may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
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Recap
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message followed Jesus as he moved from the Sermon on the Mount into action, showing through two Old Testament stories and three Gospel accounts that the same God who raised the dead through Elijah and Elisha was now present in Jesus. Pastor A walked the congregation through the pattern of miraculous provision and resurrection across centuries, building toward the claim that Jesus is the prophet Moses foretold. The through-line was simple: the miracles authenticate the message, and the message is that God has visited His people.
What was said
The sermon opened with a note on literary genre. Pastor A pointed out that moving from the Sermon on the Mount back into narrative requires a different kind of reading, and that the two Old Testament stories were not detours but deliberate preparation. Elijah fed a desperate widow from a jar that never ran dry and then raised her dead son, giving him back to his mother. Elisha did the same for the Shunammite woman, a woman who had prepared a room for him out of hospitality, and whose son died and was returned to her after earnest, strange, physical prayer. In both cases, God worked through a man of God who listened and obeyed, and through a woman who trusted enough to act on very little.
Coming back to the Gospels, Pastor A showed Jesus healing a leper immediately after the Sermon on the Mount. Where touching a leper would have made anyone else ceremonially unclean, Jesus touched the man and the cleanness ran the other direction. That pattern, where Jesus absorbs what should defile and returns wholeness instead, runs through everything that follows.
The centurion's request for his dying slave carried the same logic. The centurion, a Roman soldier and a Gentile, understood authority better than most of Israel did. He knew that Jesus did not need to come to his house, that a word would be enough. Pastor A noted that Jesus was amazed by this, and said plainly that many would come from the East and the West to recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, while those who assumed their place at the table by birthright would find themselves outside.
The story of the widow of Nain landed the hardest. A widow had already buried her husband. Now her only son was being carried out. The crowd was mourning with her. Jesus touched the bier, which made Him ceremonially unclean, and simply spoke. The young man sat up. Jesus gave him back to his mother, using almost the same words the Old Testament used when Elijah and Elisha returned sons to their mothers.
Fear gripped everyone present. Pastor A was careful here not to soften that word. He said that an immediate, personal encounter with the power of God would frighten anyone, and the crowd's response was right. Out of that fear came the recognition: a great prophet has appeared among us, and God has visited His people. That phrase comes straight from Deuteronomy 18, where Moses told Israel that God would raise up a prophet like himself, from among them, and that they should listen to him.
Pastor A closed by noting that Jesus' fame was now growing, and that the next thing coming is John the Baptist, in prison, asking whether Jesus is really the one. Jesus' answer will be a list: lepers are cleansed, the dead are raised. The sermon essentially set up that moment, making clear that for those paying attention, the signs had been accumulating since the beginning.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
- Pastor A walked through how literary genre shapes the way we read the Bible, pointing out that rivers clapping their hands is figurative language and that the Sermon on the Mount is didactic teaching while the stories around it are narrative. How has paying attention to what kind of writing you are reading changed the way you understand a passage?
- In both the story of Elijah at Zarephath and Elisha and the Shunammite woman, the miracle required trust from more than one person. The widow fed Elijah first, and the Shunammite woman rode to Mount Carmel without telling her husband their son was dead. Where in your own life has acting in faith looked strange or even unreasonable to the people around you?
and 3 more questions in the guide
